The City of Harare’s Chief Clerical Officer almost got away with a mouthwatering US$4 million.
It’s alleged that Emmanuel Dzinomurumbi redirected payments totalling $4,276,156 USD and ZWL$60,044,496 from the City Council for his own personal gain.
Dzinomurumbi holds the position of Chief Clerical Officer in the local currency office. Among his responsibilities is the authorization of erroneous transactions.
The court heard how he misused his authority by manipulating the correction system for personal profit.
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A Customer provides a Proof of Payment (POP) either physically or via email to the Senior Clerical Officer.
Their job is to thoroughly review the POP, looking for key details like the account number to be credited, the paying bank, and the payment date. These details are then logged into the system.
Next, the officer generates a voucher containing the reference number, transaction date, City of Harare (COH) bank account, confirmed amount, customer name and bank details, processor’s name, authoriser, and authorisation date.
The officer prints, signs, and forwards the voucher to the Chief Clerical Officer or another authorised officer for approval.
How Harare’s Chief Clerical Officer Almost Got Away With US$4 Million
In situations where errors occur, Dzinomurumbi, as the Chief Clerical Officer, was responsible for making necessary corrections.
According to the State’s case, the City of Harare received payments totalling ZWL$60 million and $4 million USD, which Dzinomurumbi allegedly fraudulently reversed.
This action essentially put the amounts back into the system for redistribution without adjusting the journal to reflect the reversed payments.
After that, he would purportedly create receipting vouchers in favour of accounts unrelated to the initial POP details.
All of this was allegedly done without the knowledge of the depositors, giving a false impression to the City of Harare that account holders had paid their dues, while he had pocketed the money for personal gain, to the detriment of the City of Harare.
Source iHarare.com
